When Bi Xinglong returned to his office, there was a letter on his desk.
The letter was sent from Shaoyang, Hunan Province. The sender was Feng Ruoqi, a fellow townsman and classmate of Bi Xinglong.
The two went to school together in their hometown in Hunan Province, went to study abroad at the Medical School of Cambridge University in the United States together, responded to the call to return to China together at the beginning of the liberation, and entered the Union Hospital together.
So the relationship between the two is like that of half-brothers.
During last year's staff reduction, Bi Xinglong from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Union Hospital was selected by Lin Sanqi and retained at the Changping branch.
Unfortunately, Feng Ruoqi, a surgeon, was included in the diversion list, and his whole family returned to their hometown in Shaoyang.
Bi Xinglong opened the envelope, spread out the letter, and tears began to fall as he read:
"Brother Xinglong, I have received the food coupons and money you sent back. I am so lucky to have a good brother like you, otherwise I don't know how I would have lived.
After returning to my hometown, my family’s original house and land had all been distributed to the villagers. My parents and brothers had all passed away, leaving me alone in the family. My hometown was still the same hometown, but my home was no longer the same home.
I now live in the charity cemetery at the east end of the village, which is where the coffins were originally placed.
The charity home was in ruins, with only half of the roof left. I had to use thatch to cover half of the house. It was fine on sunny days, but on rainy days the whole house was wet, and all the books I brought back home were soaked and lost.
After returning to the village, the villagers asked my wife and I to work in the fields. Unfortunately, I only knew how to read and practice medicine, so how could I farm? So I asked if I could become a teacher or an accountant, but the village chief laughed at me, saying I was a toad wanting to eat swan meat.
Now I work in the fields, and the villagers look down on me for not having enough energy. Other men make 10 points a day, but I only make 6. This means we never have enough food to eat. When I went to the countryside, I weighed 160 kilograms, but now I only weigh 110 kilograms.
My little daughter happened to be ill. A minor cold turned into pneumonia. Unfortunately, I had all the medical skills but no medicine to cure her. I was ready to lose her, but by chance your letter arrived, and the money and food coupons also arrived.
So, I'm writing this letter to express my gratitude, and secondly, to express my gratitude. If we ever meet again, I'll definitely have my little princess worship you as her godfather. Haha. I really envy you for being able to stay in the capital and continue to be a doctor.
My life is over, completely over. If I had known this would happen, I would have stayed abroad and become a doctor like Wang Shen and his friends. Sigh, I feel so sorry for my wife and children..."
Bi Xinglong put down the letter and was speechless for a long time. Then he thought of Dean Lin’s instructions and instantly gained confidence. He took the pen and paper and started writing quickly.
"Brother Ruoqi, I received your reply. Knowing your current situation, I feel very sad and anxious. I know that the suffering you expressed in your letter is probably not even one-tenth of the suffering in reality.
It's not just you. I'm also in touch with old colleagues like Liu Wenyun, Fu Xiaoping, and Shang An.
We all came back from abroad to join Union Hospital back then, but now you have all been sent back to your hometowns, and your lives have also fallen into great difficulties.
But Ruoqi, you must live on, live bravely. I am writing to tell you a piece of good news: Comrade Lin Sanqi, Vice President of our Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, has learned of your predicament and has decided to help you.
The food coupons and cash you received were not given by me, but by Dean Lin.
President Lin asked me to tell you that you are all the most elite medical talents in the country, the doctors most needed by the country, and each one of you is extremely valuable.
The tuberculosis treatment project currently being carried out at our Chinese medicine hospital has been successful. I believe that it won’t be long before our hospital’s tuberculosis department will expand in scale, or even establish a separate infectious disease hospital. This will require a large number of medical staff to join.
Dean Lin's meaning was clear: if Union Hospital doesn't recruit you, we at the Chinese Medicine Hospital welcome you. He'll pull you out of your hometowns one by one, letting you return to the capital and put on your white coats again.
So, Ruoqi, no matter how hard it is, you must persevere. The 100-yuan remittance slip enclosed with this letter was also given by President Lin. President Lin treats us as patriots, so we must treat him as patriots as well.
Come on, we'll see you in the capital, that day won't be too far away."
After Bi Xinglong finished writing the letter, he filled out the remittance form and prepared to go to the Changping Post and Telecommunications Bureau.
As soon as I walked out of the office, I saw Cai Chunhua, Yang Guang, Fu Jinsheng and others from next door coming over with some letters.
"Hey, Lao Cai, you're sending letters too? How's it going? How many people did you contact?"
Cai Chunhua sighed, "I've contacted six old colleagues. Life was tough back then... Li Shujin is gone. He jumped into the river out of frustration..."
"Ah! Li Shujin is gone? Oh my!"
Bi Xinglong, Cai Chunhua and Li Shujin were all formerly from Union Hospital. Now, when they suddenly heard that an old colleague had committed suicide due to depression, they could hardly contain their grief.
"Why is he so depressed? He's a doctor from Cornell Medical College, and now..."
Yang Guang and Fu Jinsheng also felt sad after hearing this. It was too difficult for them to understand the difficulties faced by doctors going to the countryside. It was not just physical torture, but also a kind of spiritual despair with no hope.
At the same time, they were lucky because they came from the Digital Hospital. Even after being sent back to their hometown, the psychological quality of the soldiers was strong.
Yang Guang patted Cai Chunhua and Bi Xinglong on the shoulders:
"Don't be sad. Let's hurry up and complete the task assigned by Dean Lin. Quickly send the letters and food coupons and cash to our old colleagues. Give them hope and tell them to stay strong and live, waiting for the day when the organization will call them back."
Cai Chunhua wiped away her tears:
"Old Yang is right. We need to hurry up. Have the other colleagues written letters to contact old colleagues across the country?"
Fu Jinsheng raised the letter in his hand:
"Everyone has contacted all the old colleagues they can. Look, I'm about to go to the post office."
"Let's go, let's go together!"
"You said that if Dean Lin announced the good news, would the higher authorities think our Chinese medicine hospital was crazy? They can even cure tuberculosis?"
"We haven't committed academic fraud. If we can cure it, we can cure it. Every piece of information we have is authentic, and every piece of data in our paper is well-documented."
"Dean Lin is truly a miracle worker. I wonder where he got this miracle drug from..."
…
…
The next day, Lin Sanqi, holding a thick document, followed Dean Shen and Vice Dean Ji to the Ministry of Health compound.
In the minister's office, Director Li Dequan saw the three people come in and kept his eyes on Lin Sanqi.
"Hey, why did the timely rain from the Chinese Medicine Hospital come to the Ministry on the fifth day of the first lunar month? Let me make it clear in advance that you can pay New Year's greetings, but in this new society, giving gifts to leaders is not allowed."
Lin Sanqi smiled and took out an iron box:
"I'm currently a soldier under Minister Li. Didn't Mr. Lu Shuren say that a soldier who doesn't want to be a general isn't a good soldier? So, I'm here early after the Lunar New Year to flatter the leader and get a promotion soon, so I can replace our Dean Shen."
Dean Shen pretended to be angry: “Then I’ll leave?”
Lin Sanqi quickly begged for mercy: "Dean, you are not leaving, you are being promoted to become the director of the department."
When Minister Li heard this, his face turned serious: "Then I'll leave?"
Then the old lady laughed out loud, and several people laughed along with her.
"Sit down, sit down, sit down. You three deans are here so early in the morning on New Year's Day. There must be something important going on, right? Tell me quickly."
Dean Shen personally placed a folder in front of Minister Li and said happily:
"Minister, we are here to report the good news to the organization. Our Capital Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has officially conquered tuberculosis, becoming the first hospital in the world to be able to cure tuberculosis. This is the supreme glory of our hospital and our new China."
Minister Li was not as surprised as expected when he heard this. Instead, he looked at the three people with some suspicion:
"I know you're doing tuberculosis research, but from the time you came up with the slogan until today, only seven months have passed, right? Maybe even less than seven months. Other countries have spent hundreds of years trying to conquer a disease, and you've conquered it in such a short time?"
Li Dequan was not an ignorant woman. She graduated from a women's university and married General Feng Yuxiang after graduation. She visited various parts of the world.
Such a remarkable woman naturally knew what tuberculosis represented.
In her mind, if even developed Western countries cannot conquer a disease, how can we possibly conquer it given the almost non-existent medical research environment in our country?
Precisely because the old lady had such a "prejudiced" mentality, she was not very concerned about the tuberculosis research projects that the Chinese medicine hospital was conducting, nor did she believe that the Chinese medicine hospital would succeed.
He never even visited a Chinese medicine hospital once.
In her mind, the Chinese Medicine Hospital was undoubtedly exaggerating, just like other places, and it was simply a case of the exaggeration spreading to the health system. (End of this chapter)
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